More than just a Tour
by SignedByKatiex
Summary: 5 girls...XFactor Tour...One Boyband. What happens next, read on :
1. Chapter 1

"Does it really look that bad?" I groaned as I made my way across the school field to the others watching them all bit their bottom lips obviously trying to contain their laughter. Of course none of them responded but I could tell what they were thinking.

"…Well, they're not _that _bad" Bex said leaning back a little to observe the hideous wreck of a bird nest that was on top of my head, I let out another dramatic groan and slumped down in-between Bex and Teah. I'd had Art the previous lesson and kind of got into a fight with the squirty paint, when it wouldn't come out of the tube I 'cleverly' decided to shake it around in the air which made it eventually came out but of course because I'm such a lucky person…it came out all over my head, making it look like a frog had thrown up in my hair.

"You could always say you were going for the Hulk look" Helen scoffed and laughed as the other three cackled along, I looked blankly at them, not amused. It was fair to say I was certainly the clumsiest of the five of us, also the ditsiest, the smallest and obviously the punch line of my friends' jokes. Speaking of my friends, I should probably get this out the way and introduce them…

Bex: The most creative of us five. She was also there when the whole paint issue happened and assured me that it just looked like I'd dip-dyed my hair…but should still probably consider tying it up to make it look less noticeable.

Helen: Pretty sarcastic…or should I say, when it comes to me, _very_ sarcastic. There's definitely nothing embarrassing that I've done that she's let me live down, like the first time I kissed a guy at a house party in Year 8, it all went really well until I found out he was my second cousin. Yeah, I thought everyone had forgot about it until she brought it up again at parents evening…awkward.

Teah: The cleverest one out of all of us, she's not a nerdy clever but she's got a better IQ than most of us and a lot of the time uses it against me without me knowing, like insulting me in French, Spanish, German and not forgetting basic Chinese. Oh and she also uses her cleverness to get out of class whenever she wants…its quite amazing really.

Phoebe: The pretty one and the big sister of the group, oh and did I mention she's the pretty one? She's kind of the complete opposite of Brad Pitt but exactly the same; every girl in the world loves Brad while every boy in our year loves Phoebe _but _Brad is taken by Angelina Jolie, so the rest of us have no chance where as Phoebe is completely single but the guys in or year still have no chance because let's face it, they're sleazes.

"Anyway! I have some good, no wait, amazing news for you girls!" Bex announced, like the rest of us not bothering to participate in the PE lesson that was happening around us.  
>"What is it?" Teach and Helen asked in sync, they always did have a weird habit of doing that,<br>"well…I was listening to the Radio last week and they were giving away front row X-Factor Tour tickets for free, so of course I entered and won. Which means we're going to the concert tonight!" she squealed and not before long the other three joined in and yet again I just sat there with my head down as everyone else in the class gave our little circle weird and disgusted looks.

"That means we'll see One Direction up close in the flesh!" Phoebe gasped dreamily before they all started squealing like baby piglets.

Wow, that was a surprise…Not. My friends lived, breathed and dreamed One Direction, not a day went past where we wouldn't have to discuss the curliness of Harrys' hair, the funniness of Louis, the beauty of Zayn, the amazing quality of Liams voice or the Irishness of Niall…Is Irishness even a word? Whatever, the point was that I wasn't exactly a big fan. Actually I don't think it'd even be fair to class me as a fan. I didn't hate or dislike them but didn't like or love them, nothing more and nothing less.

"Bex, it's sweet of you to invite me but maybe the ticket would go to better use if you gave it to someone else" I suggested feeling kind of guilty that there were millions of X-Factor fans out there that didn't have tickets to the show and wanted go,  
>"you're coming" she replied bluntly<br>"but I don't even like any of the acts that much this year" I tried to explain,  
>"we don't care. You're coming" Teah responded, echoing Bexs' blunt tone,<br>"I'm not going to scream when One Direction come on" I threatened…not that, that was threatening at all,  
>"good. That means there's more chance of them noticing us, you're coming" Phoebe said trying to look at my face instead of my awful hair,<br>"Really?" I whined,  
>"Really." Helen confirmed. <strong><br>**Yay, four friends against one! Why wasn't I surprised?

We stepped off onto the Greenwich platform where we just five amongst thousands of people all heading to the same building,  
>"wow Kate, you actually look nice for once" Helen teased "too nice for someone that 'isn't in to One Direction'…is someone trying to make an effort?" she teased again, elbowing me in the side,<br>"no. I was making an effort for the people on the train and everyone else that has to look at me, would you go out in public with green hair?" I backfired as went through the train ticket barrier and up the second lot of escalators.

I looked up the escalators at the group of girls in-front of us and wondered how they'd already got tops with Cher Lloyds face on it even though the real merchandise was sold inside the O2 Arena,  
>"Oh my god, we should each put the initials of one of the boys on our cheeks!" Bex gasped proudly as if she'd just found the cure to cancer,<br>"LT is going on mine!" Helen cheered,  
>"NH on mine!" Bex followed after Helens cheer,<br>"I'm having LP!" Phoebe called jumping on the bandwagon,  
>"ZM!" Teah smiled, catching onto the conversation. I looked at the four of them in pure confusion;<br>"I'll have…ABC" I shrugged. I already knew that I was going to get slaughtered for not knowing their initials,  
>"HS!" Phoebe gasped pushing my head, "how can you not know that?" Teah added shocked.<p>

Whatever, all I knew is I wanted to get in there and then out of there and get a Starbucks which would then be the highlight to my night.

"This isn't a ticket, it's just a receipt" the doorman scoffed as we went to walk through into the arena. As much as I didn't want to be there and I was attempting to throw a strop, I couldn't help but feel bad for Bex – she'd been the one who entered the competition in the first place and now she wasn't allowed into the concert? Pure Fuckery, in my own words.

"Here Bex, take mine…" I sighed walking back through the turnstiles and handing her my ticket,  
>"no Katie, that isn't fair. What are you suppose to do for a whole hour?" she asked sympathetically as I placed the ticket into her hand and shrugged,<br>"spend hours upon hours in Starbucks…maybe see you during the interval…and then wait until you come out, don't worry I'll be fine…I'll find someone on BBM to bug" I reassured as I watched the four of them walk into the stadium.

I sighed and traipsed over to one of the tables outside the inside Starbucks and aimlessly scrolled through my phone, one minute down, one hour and fifty nine minutes to go…This was going to be a long, long night.


	2. Chapter 2

"Katie! Oh my god, it was so good" Teah gasped grabbing both my shoulders and shaking me as the four of them came running out of the glass doors that lead into the concert hall,  
>"so I see…" I yawned stretching, I'd been sitting in the same chair for almost two hours and I was pretty sure every muscle in my body had gone to sleep.<p>

"No time to waste though, we've got to go!" Bex yelled grabbing my wrist and running outside of the arena as the other girls also sprinted at full pace keeping up with us. Thank god for that! They were eager to get home, the sooner we got on the train, and the sooner I could order a cab and go home, the sooner I could get in bed, Greenwich Station was in sight and to be fair, I'd never felt happier and then BAM, happiness over. Bex took a sharp right turn and began running around to the back of the O2.

"Uh girls, the stations that way?" I frowned, looking over my shoulder in sadness as the way to my house got further and further away,  
>"yes and our future husbands are this way" Phoebe giggled still running beside us,<br>Oh wow, don't tell me we were really running around the back to catch a glimpse of One Direction, what was I getting myself into? They'd probably just raise an eyebrow, climb onto their nice warm tour bus and we'd be stranded in Greenwich without a train to catch…and there I was thinking our night couldn't get any better

"Bonus! There are no other fans here!" Bex screeched jumping up and down;  
>"because it's raining and they're not sad" I grumbled folding my arms as I felt the beginning drops of a torrential rain storm hit my bare arms and of course, me being myself, I didn't bring a coat,<br>"listen, if you don't want to see them can you take your negative energy elsewhere?" Helen frowned, I assumed she was joking but I was tired and I was cold so I kind of took offence,  
>"fine. I will." I snapped and crossed the road before perching on the edge of the curb miserably.<p>

Great just great, not only was I stuck out in the rain but my friends also cared more about five boys that wouldn't give them the time of day rather than their 'friend', who was sitting across the road…vulnerable…in the dark. Deciding I was heading nowhere fast I glanced down at my mobile to see if there was anyone to complain to but once I did, I wished I hadn't,  
>"Shit" I mumbled to myself, it was 11:10 and the last train back to our area left the station at 11:15, something told me I'd be sleeping on the sidewalk tonight.<p>

"Katie…Get over here" I heard Phoebe call from across the road. I reluctantly got up and went over, not because I was interested in what was over there but because I was shit scared sitting in the dark, in a skirt by myself and plus I was in an unfamiliar area…just a recipe for disaster if you ask me, so I wasn't going to take my chances.

"What is it?" I grumbled stepping up the curb and leaning against the barrier that the other four had their faces millimetres away from, "I think that's them!" Bex whispered sounding like she was about to either burst out laughing or hysterically break down crying,  
>"I think that's Louis Tomlinson…" Helen pointed out from the other side of me, "give me your phone" she quickly demanded holding her hand out,<br>"no" I bluntly replied, there was no way I was going to let her shine a phone light on a random group of boys for them to see us and think we're crazy night time stalkers.

"Quickly!" she hissed trying to pull it out of my hand while I just as quickly pulled away. I should've seen what was coming; of course not realising that Bex was standing just a centimetre away from me as I drew back my hand it collided with her shoulder sending my phone skidding across the gravelly floor and under the metal fence we were leaning against. Fucking great.

"Whose there?" a deep voice yelled from the nigh time darkness in response to my phone skidding across the floor, something told me that, that wasn't the voice of One Direction,  
>"run!" Teah whispered to us backing away from the fence as the other girls did so,<br>"no girls, what about my phone?" I stood in shock, not quite believing that they were all about to abandon me, "we'll meet you in McDonalds" Helen called already across the street.

Fan-fucking-tastic.  
>_<p>

"Is this your phone, miss?" a huge dark skinned man asked me as I started at him with intimidation through the fence, he was easily about 6'2 and had hands that could probably crush a watermelon, especially since I was only a measly 5'1 against him…I felt like a mouse.

"its shit" another voice laughed, "it's like the oldest Blackberry going" it snorted again.

Before I knew it my own phone light was shining in my face, blinding me and making me squint,  
>"miss, it's very late. It isn't safe for you to be hanging around" the deep voice said, turning the phone light away from my face and sliding it through the gap in the fence,<br>"I'm meeting my friends" I informed him pathetically. Shut up Katie, like he cares?

"Friends? It looks like you're on your own" the other scoffed again as I backed away,  
>"that's enough Styles, back to the bus" I heard the deep voice sigh as I crossed the road.<p>

Styles as in Styles from the One Direction? Yay…Because that isn't embarrassing at all

"Thanks for not leaving me girls" I smiled sarcastically as I spotted my friends sitting on the wall outside of McDonalds stuffing there faces,  
>"Katie, I got you some chicken nuggets" Helen smirked pushing the box in my face. Bitch. She knew too well that I was vegetarian,<br>"and I got you a big mac!" Bex added in, joining in with the joke. The four of them giggled and laughed and cackled for a good five minutes while yet again I stood there feeling rather on the outside of the whole situation.

"Yeah laugh it up because we've missed the last train home" I announced, happy to be the bear of bad news. Just as I expected the four of them shut up and sat there looking rather gutted,  
>"shit" Phoebe gasped, "My mum is going to murder me!"<br>""it's not like we can either get a cab, I have no money" Bex shrugged.

I had to hold back the strong urge to dance around yelling 'I told you so!' and bite my tongue,  
>"I have money but I'm knackered and my feet are killing" I complained,<br>"Well I have an idea…" Teah started as we all looked at her with hope that she'd have one of her amazing intelligent ideas,  
>"can we not use your money to get a hotel…and then we'll pay you back what we need to when we get home?" she suggested politely.<p>

Any other time I would've told someone where to stick it if they asked me to pay for their hotel room but these were my girls, even if they had left me alone for most the night and plus, there weren't many other options. Hotel it was.

"It's quite classy…a few pounds can clearly go a long way" Phoebe smiled impressed as she stretched out across one of the sofas in the lobby, the four of us had found a hotel not to far from the arena which seemed half decent, we hadn't even been up to our rooms and just crashed on the nearest comfortable place in sight.

"Katie, come here…" Bex smiled gesturing for me to come over to the chair where she was sat with Helen and Teah with her camera in her hand…Yay, concert photos, could tonight get any better?

Half an hour later, I found myself _still _leaning on the back of the chair as the four of them fangirled and cackled about the concert,  
>"then during Grenade, Louis and Niall waved at us" Helen and Bex cheered in chorus,<br>"wow, your in there" I gasped unenthusiastically, picking at my nails and not even bothering to look at the picture on the camera, they were way too sucked into their own conversation to notice me not paying attention anyway.

At least the lobby was warm; the only downfall was a short and sharp draft coming in from the winter's night outside whenever the front door opened, I looked over yet again as the little bell rang to signal someone was entering to see a little blonde guy who looked kind of familiar traipsing through the hall and heading in our direction, then the bell went again and two more guys walked through, one with dark hair and tanned skin and the other with short, sweepy brown hair and a striped top…

"Girls, look…" I said tilting my head the way I wanted their attention to go,  
>"what is it?" Phoebe frowned before looking over the top of the sofa and freezing in shock. The bell went again causing the other girls to all turn around and see two more guys walk through one with curly hair and the other with Bieber like hair but he was much taller and seemed older.<p>

This was just my luck. Not only was I stranded in a random hotel in Greenwich but I was also with the guys that made my friends transform and morph into a pack of crazy hyenas. Damn.

"Guys, I know you'll probably want to go see them but they've just done a two hour…" I began,  
>"Quick! Lets get pictures" Phoebe squealed jumping up from the sofa and running towards the boys who were now standing in a group in the middle of the lobby. This was so awkward, what are you suppose to do in that kind of situation? So casually I just strolled towards Helen and Bex, since they were the closet to me.<p>

"Thanks for the picture!" Bex said sounding all shaky like she'd seen a unicorn or something magical,  
>"No problem girls" the brown haired guy, Louis, smiled politely and handed the camera back to Helen who was clearly wonderstruck.<p>

To be fair, I was more worried about remembering their names than them actually being in the room,  
>"did you enjoy the concert girls" the little Irish guy, Niall cheered. Of course Helen and Bex nodded crazily like robots on fast-forward, it was quite cute though…I weren't keen on One Direction but Louis and Niall did seem so sweet,<br>"Vas Happenin boys!" the curly haired one cheered, his voice sounded familiar…where had I heard it?  
>"Meeting fans Styles, what does it look like?" Louis laughed teasingly.<p>

That was it! Styles! The guy from the car park…who called my phone crap, awkward.

Since I was standing in the middle of Helen and Bex and he was standing in the middle of Louis and Niall, it was only natural that he was going to see me first and of course, with all the luck I was having he automatically noticed me,  
>"Oh so you do have friends!" he grinned smugly.<p>

Yeah, friends that are in love with you and I didn't even mention that we kind of sort of met…Double Awkward?


	3. Chapter 3

Woah! I sat up quickly after not recognising the room I was in when I opened my eyes only to remember that I was in a hotel…of course…because my idiot friends made me miss the last train. I had been praying that I'd wake up in my own bed and the night before was a bad dream but that clearly wasn't going to happen…

I felt gross; I was still in the clothes I wore last night and from my bed I could see that the maid was already cleaning out the bathroom…Great, no shower for me. That's when I realised the other girls weren't even in the room and had yet again had abandoned me, was I really that annoying that they needed to get away from me even while I was sleeping? Thanks guys, yet again.

I trailed across the corridor that was right outside my hotel room door and pulled out my "crappy" phone, I barely remembered much about the night before; I just made an excuse to go to bed while the others continued to hassle One Direction, I texted Bex:  
>'Where are you guys? I've just woken up…'<br>this time I was determined not to let the other four of them walk all over me, I wanted to just get out of the hotel and go home. My phone vibrated and played 'Judas' by Gaga; I looked at the caller I.D…Helen,

"Hey Helen, did Bex get my text?"  
>"Yeah but she has no credit so I rang you instead."<br>"Oh right…where are you'se?"  
>"In the dining room having lunch"<br>"lunch? What time is it"  
>"like 1 O'clock" … Wow, I'd overslept<br>"okay I'm coming down the stairs into the lobby now…Bye"

I hung up and looked around the lobby; since it was December it was typically raining, I followed a stretch of dark red carpet around to two glass double doors that lead into the hotels dining room and automatically saw my friends on a table by the window that looked out onto the hotels fountain garden,  
>"Thankyou for waking me up girls" I smiled sarcastically<br>"but you looked so happy asleep" Teah teased  
>"and you were a lot quieter" Helen added<br>I rolled my eyes and shoved a slice of toast that was in the middle of the table into my mouth,  
>"so what did I miss last night while you guys were on your dates with your 'Future Husbands'" I said between mouthful, amused that for once I was the one teasing them.<p>

"Liam and Harry followed me on Twitter" Phoebe automatically came out with. Wow, shocker, a pretty girl getting followed by two boy band heartthrobs.  
>"Oh yeah!" Teah gasped excitedly, "Have they tweeted you yet?"<br>Phoebe shook her head, "not yet"  
>"Also we got so many pictures, like literally 3 pictures with each boy and then 5 group ones…" Helen told me pulling out her camera and handing it to me so that I could flick through the shots, they were pretty cute. They seemed good with their fans, "Louis hugged me!" she cheered happily.<p>

"Oh wow, whens the wedding?" I gasped sarcastically as she slapped me pretty hard on the side of my head,  
>"you should have stayed down here longer, Katie. They were nice" said Teah,<br>"so they're nice to a group of girls, who happen to be fans, who buy anything with their face on it which is otherwise known as merchandise, which makes money, which goes towards their pay checks? I never would have guessed" I scoffed yet again sarcastically, I was on a roll with the smart comebacks if I did say so myself,  
>"okay seriously, why are you so against them?" Bex frowned,<br>"I have nothing against them. I don't know them and therefore I can't be totally obsessed" I smiled making the rest go silent without comebacks. Mwahaha, I rest my case.

I threw myself onto the smallest sofa in Helens front room and stretched out; it felt so warm to be indoors after traipsing around the freezing cold market looking for Christmas presents and other stuff people decide to randomly buy in the December time of year,  
>"...I'd say make yourself at home but it looks like you already did" Helen frowned walking in from the kitchen with Bex both with hot chocolates in their hands, "did you want one?" she asked.<p>

Before she could even finish the question I shook my head, the whole time we'd been walking around the market I'd been buying teas, coffees, cuppa soups, hot chocolates and anything else that'd help keep me warm. If I touched another drink again, I was pretty sure I'd explode. Helens house was pretty much mine and Bexs' second home and we were literally always there Wednesdays after school without fail.

"My mums going to totally like the One Direction pictures in this X-Factor calendar I brought her" Bex cheekily grinned raising her eyebrows,  
>"your mum likes One Direction?" Helen questioned puzzled. To be honest, I was quite happy she sounded just as confused as I felt because otherwise I would've lost all faith in man kind,<br>"of course she doesn't!" Bex laughed, "I brought it for her to give to me" she winked. Oh god…Please tell me she didn't buy her own Christmas present to give to her mum for her mum to wrap up and give back to her.

"Can you believe we actually met the boys in person a week ago today?" Helen gasped as the two of them started flicking through the calendar drooling over the pictures,  
>"I know!" Bex replied. I buried my face in one of the many pillows on the sofa, hoping that I'd suffocate before I got dragged into their endless One Direction talk,<br>"the X-Factor tour's finished now" I heard Helen add and decided they wasn't going to include me in the conversation so carelessly took my face away from the cushion.

"Katie, who's your favourite boy in One Direction?" Bex asked as soon as I sat up right.  
>Damn. I was being pulled into the conversation after all…I couldn't even remember their names…I paused for a little while and then blurted out the first name that came to mind,<br>"Niall…" I shrugged  
>"wrong answer, he's mine" Bex quickly said defensively. Oh, fair enough.<br>"Louis?" I said again, saying the second name that came to mind,  
>"even more wrong, he's mine. Don't even think about it" Helen threatened,<br>"the one with the face then!" I yelled pretending to be overly distressed and hid my face back in the pillow

"Oh, so Zayn?" Bex chirped.  
>…Really? They recognised Zayn as "the one with the face"; didn't the rest of the band all have faces?<br>"Sure" I mumbled from behind the cushion, not even bothering to argue.

Saved by the mobile! I quickly stood up as I felt a vibration come from my blazer pocket followed by the opening to 'Bubbly' by Colbie Cailliat. Text. I automatically smiled when I saw who it was from, my baby Olly…Before I go any further, no Olly isn't my boyfriend, he's like the token guy in our group of five girls and it is strictly and utterly forbidden for any of us to look at him in that way – it's just weird, plus I call everyone baby. My eyes skimmed across the text,

Olly: Katie, Katie, Katie (:  
>Katie: Olly bby! =D you alright? x<br>Olly: I'm good…Are you girls going to the schools Christmas party on Friday? (: x

Urgh, I'd completely forgotten. Our school always threw Christmas parties on the last Friday of the term, which happened to be this Friday,  
>"girls, Olly just reminded me about the Christmas party on Friday, are we going?" I asked not taking my eyes away from my phone,<br>"Oh yeah! I forgot too!" Bex said,  
>"We should go, it'll be fun and you girls can sleepover here after if you want?" Helen offered as me and Bex nodded in approval. I text back Olly,<p>

Katie: Me, Bex and Helen are in…Teah and Phoebe are probably coming too (: Are you? x  
>Olly: Well now I know you'se are haha…Can I tell you a secret ;)<br>Katie: Go on…  
>Olly: Well you know how my dad works for the Syco record label and is one of the top blokes there ;)?<br>Katie: LOL mhm?  
>Olly: He's managed to hire a band to play a few songs on Friday! And not any band…One Direction :D Don't tell the others though because they're IN LOVE with them and I want it to be a surprise but I know you have a habit of finding out stuff so I told you r u surprised ;) ?<p>

Surprised? No, not at all. In-fact this was just my luck….fucking fab.


	4. Chapter 4

"You know, I've had just about enough of Mr. James and his fucking lectures on how I should be bringing a calculator into school…Surely _he _should be providing them in his classroom?" Helen ranted as I laughed and pulled my dance kit out of my locker, the five of us had just had Maths and yet again Helen forgot her calculator and Mr. James had yelled at her…hence the reason we all had to sit and listen to her rant on about how unfair it was.

"What lesson do you guys have now" Phoebe said quickly changing the subject  
>"Music" Bex and Teah replied,<br>"Music" Helen echoed looking at her timetable. I held up my dance kit, assuming that, that would be a big enough clue, "I have Drama" Phoebe sighed with an eye roll, "they're making me do a monologue…I've got to be in roll as the Donkey who carried Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and make it all funny and crap. Oh and did I mention on top of that, I also have to actually perform it at the Christmas Party?" she jumped up and down pretending to be excited, I couldn't help but laugh as I imagined Phoebe, who usually looked so glamorous and Hollywood wearing a set of donkey ears and a tail.

"Consider yourself lucky, we have to sing 'Frosty the Snowman' and then we all have solos on top of that" Helen shrugged slamming her locker shut, "and I picked Jingle Bell Rock…because I can" she grinned,  
>"Silent Night" Bex stated as if she knew what I was going to ask next,<br>"All I Want For Christmas is You" Teah nodded as she finally shut her locker. Man, I wish I could sing, I would have loved to sing at the Christmas Party, it looked like fun,  
>"well our class is dancing to this song…Wonderful Dream? It's the one of the coke advert" I laughed as Bex hummed the tune.<p>

Dance had always been one of my strong points which I was happy about since I didn't have many others,  
>"trouble at 12 O'clock…" Phoebe groaned nudging me as she took a quick left down the Drama corridor before shouting, "good luck!" over her shoulder, clearly more directed at me than the other three. I rolled my eyes as I looked straight ahead to see what she was talking about.<p>

"Hi girlies" Jody greeted in a patronisingly sweet tone as she came face to face with us, followed by Mark. The two of them had never really made it a secret that they hated Helen, Bex, Teah, Phoebe and most of all, me and it was all because I'd just come out of a relationship with Mark around 3 weeks ago since I caught him cheating on me with Jody. Anyway, I didn't really know what my feelings were towards him but I certainly knew I didn't like Jody and she didn't like me either,  
>"Hi gentlemen" Teah greeted back just as sarcastically causing the three of us to snort with laughter,<br>"very funny…I was going to ask if you losers were going to the Christmas Party but then realised it starts at 7 O'clock, way past your bed time" she chuckled, the scary thing was she found herself genuinely funny,  
>"hey Jody…my six year old cousin just called, she wants her insult back" Helen frowned after cringing at her disgustingly embarrassing excuse of an insult, however Helens comeback of course caused me, Teah and Bex to fall about laughing.<p>

"Get out my face" Jody spat, pushing her way through the three of us…I loved how she couldn't handle the smallest bit of humiliation, yet she was more than happy to stomp down anyone in her way. I followed Teah, Bex and Helen down the corridor as we carried on down towards the music rooms and the dance studio until I felt a grip on my arm which caused me to spin round,  
>"<em>are <em>you going to the dance?" Marks asked raising an eyebrow,  
>"Well yeah, I'm performing…" I responded with a shrug, I didn't want to seem like I cared that he was interested in me but I had to admit I was kind of freaking out,<br>"do you want to go with me? I mean, just as friends obviously" he asked out of the blue.

As soon as those words left his lips I could hear the voices of Helen, Teah and Bex screaming in my head;  
>Bex: "No, No, No"<br>Teah: "Don't do it, Don't do it, Don't do it"  
>Helen: "Say yes and you're a mug and a sorry excuse for an ex-girlfriend"<p>

I scratched the back of my neck,  
>"uh, sure…why not. Just as friends though" I smiled as he smiled back, "great, I'll meet you here so it doesn't seem like a date" he told me as he carried on walking in the opposite direction. Like an idiot, I just stood there and nodded trying to take in what just happened but at the same time I couldn't help but smile. <p>

"Unbelievable" Helen muttered as I snapped back to reality, "Katie, you're such a pushover!" she exclaimed,  
>"she's right Katie…I think you've forgotten he cheated on you" Bex exclaimed sounding just as disgusted as Helen did,<br>"I know, I know but we're going as friends. It's no big deal" I answered avoiding eye contact with all three of them as we carried on walking the corridor,  
>"Okay did you just hear Bex? He cheated on you. How is that not a big deal" Teah sighed joining in with the other two, I felt my heart dance with joy as I saw the dance changing rooms,<br>"okay, got to go bye!" I blurted quickly as I ran into the changing rooms before they could moan at me anymore.  
>Katie 1 – Argumentative Friends – 0 :D<p>

Water, finally. I slid down against the dance studio mirrors until I was sat on the floor and chugged every last drop of water out of my bottle, Ms. Reynolds had unfortunately been in one of her crazy perfectionist moods and made us dance to 'Wonderful Dream' by Melanie Thornton over and over from the beginning of the lesson until the end without stopping and if I was being honest…I was knackered.

I could see Teah, Phoebe, Bex and Helen hanging around outside since break had started ten minutes ago so I unwillingly pulled myself to my feet, worried that they'd go and abandon me again.

"Not so fast Katie, I need to talk to you and Conor quickly" Ms Reynolds said as I reached the door. Conor was one of the many boys in our dance class and to be honest he was fucking amazing, he could pretty much do any style of dance and make it look good. I gave the girls a 'one second' look and skipped over to Ms Reynolds desk.

"I know this is late…very late actually and short notice but I didn't know that we needed to put a dance duet into the school Christmas Party to be performed" she explained looking at the both of us hintingly,  
>"and you're asking if we'll do it because we're the most amazing students" Conor laughed jokingly,<br>"I don't know about that" Ms Reynolds winked, "but I would like you two to come up with a duet by tomorrow night?" she smiled hopefully at the two of us.

Conor nodded, "I'll do it if Katie does obviously", I nodded too.  
>"Great" Ms Reynolds grinned patting us both on the shoulders, "meet me here after school"<p>

"Aw, this is Christmassy and cute" I laughed as me and Conor stood in-front of the studio mirrors listening to the song Ms. Reynolds had played for us,  
>"Is this the song we're dancing too?" I asked,<br>"Yes, it's called Ho ho hopefully by The Maine…Listen guys, I've got to go to a meeting but I trust that you two will come up with something good" Ms Reynolds replied leaving the music on as she left the room.

After a few hours of messing around with ideas we finally decided we had our dance,  
>"want to go from the top?" Conor smiled as he ran to restart the music. I had to admit even though the whole thing was such short notice I did love the dance we'd came up with, it was so simple yet I knew it'd look pretty and skilled when we got on stage with all the lights. This was the first duet I'd ever done with a boy at the school since picking dance as one of my GCSE options and I had to confess I was loving it, I always thought it'd be awkward with the amount of contact but it didn't, both me and Conor remained completely professional and plus when we done lifts, it made me feel weightless…Bonus.<p>

"Excuse me is this the main hall? We have a rehearsal for tomorrow booked" a confident voice asked. One that I remembered and recognised, it made me freeze over…I didn't want to turn and face the door.  
>"…This is a dance studio" I heard Conor reply, "Hey Katie, I've got to go now. See you tomorrow" Conor said looking back to me as he gave me a one armed hug and headed for the door.<p>

Shit. Trust him to leave right at that moment. I plucked up my courage and turned around and saw the face I was expecting to see and it obviously recognised me,  
>"the main hall is just across the hall…two big double doors…you can't miss it" I pointed out not making eye contact,<br>"thanks" the boy said, I thought I'd made a sneaky escape when he went to leave…and then he turned back around, of course.

"I know you. You're the girl with the crappy phone" he laughed slightly as a short blonde boy who I recognised as Niall and an Asian guy who I remembered as Zayn aka the boy with the face poked their heads round the door,  
>"That's me…most people call me Katie for some reason though, I don't know why" I grumbled sarcastically as I began putting my converses on,<br>"I have the same problem, some people call me hot but my real name is Harry" he teased.

Wow, ignorant. I didn't reply and carried on putting on my shoes.

"Harry come on, we've got to go and rehearse" Niall said giving him a tug as him and Zayn disappeared  
>"Small word, Seeya Katie" Harry laughed again before following Niall and Zayn.<p>

You know what I'm going to say next don't you…Fan-fucking-tastic.


	5. Chapter 5

I covered my eyes and had yet another coughing fit as my mum sprayed even more hair glitter into the loose curls she'd just created in my hair,  
>"okay, okay mum. Enough with the glitter!" I demanded dodging my head to the side to avoid any more glitter being put into my hair,<br>"fine" she sighed taking a step back to take a look at me, "how many dances are you doing tonight?"  
>"two" I said sliding on my ballet slippers and then picking up a pair of heels and another dress from my wardrobe.<p>

For my two dance pieces I'd been asked to wear my white ballet slippers with clear tights and a short, mid-thigh flowing kind of white dress that sparkled under the light and of course, it was my mums' idea to curl my hair and then pull it up into a pony tail and spray it with glitter so it looked kind of fairy-like.

I had to admit I did look _very _Christmassy but I wasn't my thing so I'd brought a change of clothes for after my dances; a pink strapless dress that was corset like at the top and then the bottom skirt part was made of feathers and of course a pair of heels.

Before I even had time to double check I had anything a car horn beeped outside,  
>"that'll be Helens mum…she's dropping me and the girls off at the Christmas party"<br>"alright, what time will you be home?" my mum asked, she was so forgetful.  
>"I'm staying at Helens remember, I won't be home until tomorrow afternoonish" I smiled picking up my bag that had all my overnight stuff in it before running down the garden path, it was absolutely freezing and plus it'd been snowing since 3:10 when we came out of school and it was no at least an inch deep.<p>

I was relieved just to get into the car and out of the snow but it'd soaked through my slippers slightly…nice.  
>"Katie, you look so pretty" Taylor, Helens' mum, smiled<br>"Thanks, this is only my performance outfit though" I smiled.  
>I had to admit being squashed in the back of a 5 seater car with Bex, Teah and Phoebe wasn't the most comfortable of things but the heater was on and 'A Wonderful Christmas Time' was playing on the Radio so at least it was getting us into the Christmas mood.<p>

"Remember your father and I are out tonight Helen…Will you girls be okay home alone?" Taylor questioned not taking her eyes off of the road,  
>"we'll be fine mum…we're not 5" Helen replied with a sigh.<br>"I know. Remember just because we're not home does not give you the excuse to throw an after party" Taylor then warned. Taylor was so much more reasonable and cool than my mum, my mum would've probably stopped me going to the Christmas party altogether and make me go out with her instead if she knew no one was home.

We finally pulled up outside the school which meant the five of us had to brave the cold, yet again.  
>"Woah! You three look so good!" I gasped as I caught sight of Helen, Teah and Bex who were already wearing their singing costumes; each of them had black 80's styled mini-dresses on but the bottom of them was lined with different coloured Christmas lights than flickered and blinked,<br>"don't even remind me about what I'm wearing" Phoebe grumbled and shoved her donkey ears onto her head which of course made the four of us crack up laughing.

Inside the school the main hall looked beautiful, it was all done up with a huge Christmas tree in the middle and the doors to the main hall were wide open so everybody could hear the music playing from inside.  
>"I'm going to go and put my change of clothes backstage, do you want me to bring yours?" Bex asked to the rest of us,<br>"Could you?" I smiled handing her my dress that was still on its hanger and my heels. I watched as she ran around to the backstage entrance followed by Helen who I assumed was going to help her out,  
>"Your dates here" Teah jumped up and down sarcastically. I looked over my shoulder at Mark who was standing by the entrance doors with a group of other boys and Jody…of course.<p>

"Stop, he isn't my date, we're here as friends" I explained,  
>"mhm, friends. We'll see you and your lover inside, okay" Phoebe teased giving me a sneaky grin before linking arms with Teah and trailing off inside. I couldn't help feeling happy about going to the dance with Mark, whether we were going as friends or not…after all we'd only broke up a few weeks ago and feelings don't just go away.<p>

"Mark" I greeted cheerfully, trying to not seeming too intimidated by the stares his friends were giving me. He looked me up and down and smiled, I hated it when he done that. It was like he was judging me,  
>"Katie, you're here…do you want to go inside?" he asked, stepping away from the other guys slightly and walking towards the main hall doors as I nodded,<br>"I hear your dancing tonight…" he suddenly said in attempt to break the silence that sat between us,  
>"yeah, two dances" I replied awkwardly.<p>

Lucky for both of us by this time we were pretty much in the main hall and it look amazing, it almost reminded me of the Yule Ball scene in Harry Potter except all the lights were off, making it dark and there was a round stage in the middle that was lit up with icy blue and white spot lights,  
>"did you hear about the band who's playing tonight?" Mark asked as we dodged our way through people to the drinks table,<br>"yeah. One Direction, I ran into them yesterday when they came for rehearsals" I said suddenly realising that they were probably hanging around somewhere and wondered if the girls had caught sight of them,  
>"do you like them?"<br>"eh, not really. They're okay?" I shrugged picking up a pink looking dress from the table,  
>"I didn't think they'd be your type of people" he added.<p>

What the hell was that suppose to mean?

After about fifteen minutes of standing in awkward silence just watching other people dance and have fun, Ms. Reynolds appeared in the middle of the stage,  
>"Welcome everyone to the Annual Christmas Party, are we all having a good time?" she yelled into the microphone as if she was standing on the stage in Wemebely or something…<p>

After the screams died down she carried on talking,  
>"Okay, so we have a few performers tonight…First we're going to kick off with Phoebe and her Bethlehem Donkey monologue."<br>As soon as Ms Reynolds was done talking I automatically heard all my girls screaming their hearts out as she climbed onto stage still wearing her donkey ears and clearly not looking impressed…  
>"I should go and see the girls, I haven't spoken to them all night" I told Mark, thinking about how pissed they'd be if I blew them off for him,<br>"Wait" he said quickly…I already knew exactly what was coming…  
>"be my girlfriend…again" he said, kind of telling me instead of asking but in a cute way.<p>

He's a cheater. He hurt me. I cried endlessly at Helens house when I found out about him. I knew he was likely to do it again. I wasn't ready to be in another relationship, so what did I say?  
>Yes.<br>Nice one Kate.  
>-<p>

The night was rolling on to the hours of midnight now and pretty much everyone had performed, there were just two left…my dance duet with Conor and of course One Directions surprise performance.

"What do you mean you're going back out?" Phoebe frowned  
>"He asked and I said yes" I smiled innocently, giving my four friends a 'please don't hurt me' look,<br>"You're going to regret it" Bex warned  
>"So does this mean you're going to be his shadow from now on and forget about us" Helen shrugged giving me her normal 'I'm very disappointed in you' stare…the type I expect to see from my mum, not my friend,<br>"No, don't be stupid" I frowned tightening the bow on my ballet slippers.

Thankfully before they could moan at me for much longer I was called up onto stage…Yay! And this time I genuinely mean yay.

The opening of _Ho, Ho Hopefully_ played and the lights on the stage become brighter, the first people I saw were of course, Teah, Bex, Phoebe and Helen who were all lined up by the front of the stage, I gave them a subtle smile before I had to start.

Not that I was being big headed but I could feel myself and Con hitting all the steps at the perfect times which was pretty good considering we'd only thought up the routine but I couldn't help but secretly search the room for Mark but he was no where to be seen…  
>To be honest the song was over before I knew it and the lights had gone back down and the sound of people setting up microphones could be heard from behind me,<br>"Pretty good for a girl with a crappy phone" a familiar voice chuckled….Harry.  
>"Thanks" I panted back, too worn out to say anything else or even give a dirty look, not that he would've seen it, the room was pitch black.<p>

"What's going on?" I heard Bex whispered as I came of the stage to the other girls. The hall was in complete darkness and of course apart from me, Olly and a few others, nobody knew what was going on.  
>"I don't know but I'm ready to go home and watch a film, what about you girls?" Helen replied.<br>Teah, Bex and Phoebe agreed and began to collect up their bags and coats that were laid underneath a nearby table.

I was so tempted to just go along with it and go home, I was knackered but I knew if they found out I knew, they'd never forgive me,  
>"no guys, just wait…it'll be worth it. I promise" I said, stopping them from leaving just as the lights came up.<p>

The main hall erupted with high pitched screams; they were so loud it was almost as if only dogs would be able to hear the noise,  
>"Hello Bancroft High!" Liam greeted into his microphone making the screams only get louder,<br>"How're we doing tonight?" Zayn asked as the screams carried on, I laughed and turned to look at the girls who were all red in the face screaming and jumping up and down, somehow they'd managed to squirm their way into the front row,  
>"This is Forever Young" Zayn smiled reaching down into the crowd, it was nice seeing my friends so excited – not that could say I was surprised.<p>

"Shoutout to Helen!" Louis called into the microphone just before Liams began his lines,  
>"And Bex!" Niall laughed pointing at her.<p>

Well, well, well….I know two girls that were going to die happy.


	6. Chapter 6

"Shit!" Bex gasped as the five of us walked out onto the schools car park, the snow was so deep that it'd buried our ankles and parts of our shins fully,  
>"Now I know how eskimos' feel" Teah complained as we carried on walking out of the schools gates and on to the main road. I'd never been happier about the fact that Helen literally lived opposite the school,<br>"I'm so ready to get in pyjamas or something and just chill" I shivered, taking baby steps across the road as I didn't exactly feel like slipping.

I know midnight wasn't exactly late but I'd been in a tiny little dress and ballet slippers all night and it must've been at least -10 degrees. As we reached Helens' doorstep I could feel the heat from inside, which again made me almost too happy to live,  
>"Girls! Aren't you coming to the after party?" Olly cheered from over the fence. He and Helen had been neighbours forever, since they were like 2 and that was basically how the rest of us had met him when we all started school together.<br>"You're having the after party?" Teah smiled excitedly,  
>"Yup, c'mon it'll be fun!" Olly persuaded, giving one of his usual cheeky, happy-go-lucky little smiles.<p>

I would've protested there and then and told them that I wanted to sleep but I knew I was going to lose,  
>"do you want to know the best thing?" Olly whispered to us leaning forwards slightly, we all just shrugged and looked at him,<br>"One Direction agreed to come for a little while" he winked.

Well that was that, the other four ran into Helens' house to get ready with no further persuasion needed. Great.

"Don't hold your breath by Nicole Scherzinger…Really?" I laughed at Olly as I joined him by the drinks table; the party was already in full swing and I wasn't happy that he'd decided to turn off Tinie Tempah and turn on Nicole Scherzinger….not that I didn't like her, I just preferred Tinie.

"This is a jam! Don't knock it" he laughed as he jokingly danced around the kitchen,  
>"wow…never do that again" I laughed in reply.<p>

Olly had pretty been the only person to actually talk to me for the whole night; everybody had seemed to have forgotten that I was even at the party.  
>Helen, Bex, Teah and Phoebe were sat in the living room with One Direction and a few other girls, I could've joint them but I didn't exactly feel like sitting around five boys who thought they were too cool for life while my friends drooled over everything they said…no thanks. Plus, I still couldn't find Mark.<p>

"Have you had a chance to talk to the boys yet?" Olly asked me as he took another sip from his can,  
>"No…and even if I had wanted too, they've been surrounded all night by the freaks I call friends" I laughed.<br>I pulled myself up onto the kitchen counter so my legs were dangling and looked through the kitchen door at everybody else who was in the front room,  
>"you don't seem in the mood Katie, you're normally completely off your head by now" Olly pointed out,<br>"I know" I shamelessly agreed "I'm waiting for Mark, I haven't seen him since I got here".

Olly scratched the back of his neck with an awkward expression and suddenly shut the kitchen door,  
>"you two aren't going back out, are you?" he frowned,<br>"well yeah, I know it sounds stupid because he was a dickhead before hand but I think he's learned his lesson" I defended, automatically reading Ollys' worrying facial expressions of disapproval,  
>"he hasn't Kate…He came in here asking for you as soon as the party kicked off and you wasn't here so I told him you weren't coming and then half an hour later he went upstairs with Sarah from Maths, I wouldn't be surprised if they were still up there…I'm so sorry" he apologised.<p>

Oh Christ, for fuck sake, now I look super stupid.  
>"Don't apologise, it isn't your fault he's a prick" I shrugged trying to cover up the fact that I was completely ready to burst into tears. I didn't even know what to think; maybe Olly had got it wrong? Maybe he went upstairs with Sarah from Maths to help her with Maths.<br>Who was I trying to kid? Nobody does Maths at a party and Sarah from Maths is great at Maths, why would she need help from a loser like him.

Just my luck  
>_<p>

"I think I'm going to go now guys, Helen can I have the keys to yours?" I stood over where Helen, the girls and One Direction were sat on the sofas of the front room and leant on the back of Liams chair who to my surprise had Phoebe sitting on his lap, but to be honest I was to depressed to care,  
>"Sure…it's a bit early though" Helen told me handing me the keys,<br>"I'm aware" I replied,  
>"Grumpy, grumpy" Louis teased as I was about to walk away.<p>

Sorry, how do I know you again?

"She's just pissed about her shit phone" Harry laughed who was obviously drunk out of his face, I didn't even bother to turn round and just gave him the finger as I walked away,  
>"is she always that stressed?" I heard Nialls concerned little Irish voice wonder out loud as I walk away,<br>"believe it or not, no" Bex said.

How long had I been asleep?  
>I opened my eyes to be blinded by the huge burning fire place in Helens living room and squinted,<br>"good morning sleeping beauty" Phoebe said sarcastically as she sat in the armchair opposite. The TV was on and from what I could see Mean Girls was the movie that was on. I looked at the time on my phone; it was three in the morning. I'd been asleep for three hours.

"You missed literally so much!" Teah gasped before I could even sit up, "am I going to tell her or are one of yous?" she exclaimed, obviously excited about something or other,  
>"I got Nialls' number!" Bex quickly squealed,<br>"And I got Louis's, Phoebe got Liams' and Teah got Zayns'!" Helen added, squealing just as high as Bex had. I wasn't going to lie, I was pretty surprised. What were the odds though? All four of my friends managed to get One Directions numbers, props to them I suppose!

"Well I'm glad you guys are finding people" I scoffed suddenly being reminded of why I had left in the first place,  
>"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked. Not that she seemed to care; she hadn't taken her eyes off of her phone since I'd woken up,<br>"Olly told me that Mark cheated on me" I sighed "again!" There was an awkward silence for a moment.  
>"Oh Katie, are you alright?" Bex finally said leaning over to hug me while the rest of them continued to sit awkwardly, I looked straight over to Helen,<br>"And I swear, if you even think about coming out with 'I told you so', I'll break your face and then delete Louis' number off of your phone" I joked, smiling sweetly while she held her hands up in surrender,  
>"I didn't say he'd cheat on you again, I just said he was a dick and I shall stand by my word" she announced proudly.<p>

For the rest of the night, or early morning rather we sat in our pyjamas watching Mean Girls and talking about random stuff, not that I was really up for it and couldn't seem to take my mind off of what'd happened with Mark and everything.

We'd just got to the part where Regina George subtly (note sarcasm) throws photocopies of the Burn book around the hallways and conveniently nobody see's when the door suddenly rang,  
>"who the hell could that be? It's three in the morning" Phoebe frowned double checking the time on her mobile. Helen left the room for the moment to see who it was while the rest of us muted the TV and listened in on the conversation, which was almost impossible,<br>"are you sure you don't mind?" was the only thing we managed to hear,  
>"Katie go and listen in, you're good at stuff like that" Teah laughed.<p>

I crawled across the carpet over to the doorway of the front room where I got a clear vision of the hallway and the front door and turned my nose up when I saw who it was…it was Styles and Tomlinson, I wasn't sure if any of the others were with them because I couldn't see,  
>"it's Louis and Harry" I whispered to the other three,<br>"oh my god!" I heard Bex typically gasp.  
>I frowned even more when I realised Louis was wiping his feet and taking his shoes off as he stepped into the hallway, followed by Harry, followed by Zayn, followed by Liam, followed by Niall…what the fuck was this all about?<p>

"Ah! They're coming in!" I hysterically giggled as I struggled to climb to my feet and instead speedily crawled across the living room floor,  
>"umh Kate? What are you doing?" Helen laughed in a worried tone as she walked into the room followed by the boys and watched me crawl across the floor. I casually sat on the sofa and tucked my hair behind my ears, "I was…erm…inspecting your carpet…for…borrowers" I spontaneously said not realising how strange I sounded until after I'd said it.<br>"Anyway…" Phoebe raised her eyebrows at me before changing the subject, "what's going on?"

"The driver who was meant to take us back home can't get here because of the snow" Niall explained,  
>"And we can't walk because we don't know our way" Liam added,<br>"So Helen kindly let us stay here until morning" Harry announced as the other girls just stared star struck.

Oh bloody hell. I rolled my eyes.

"Well…it's 3am which is morning, bye" I gave a false smile,  
>"Katie, be nice" Helen warned.<br>"Yeah Katie, be nice" Harry echoed.

Fuck a duck.


End file.
